"The film you are about to see is inspired by true events.
According to the F.B.I. there are an estimated 1.4 million violent crimes in America each year.
On the night of February 11, 2005 Kristen McKay and James Hoyt went to a friend's wedding reception and returned to the
Hoyt family's summer home. The brutal events that took place there are still not entirely known."
I had heard about this film early last year and was excited to see it, the teaser trailer really made this film look good. So I went in with higher expectations than what I've read other people did. Sadly, I was a little disappointed. It most certainly isn't a horror film, which is what I had expected, but more of a psychological thriller. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but when you go in expecting one thing and you get another, sometimes it can be disappointing and this was one of those times.
With that said, the film is still great, well up until the ending. The ending completely falls apart IMO. The film is also a little slow in some places, but for those who scare easily, that will actually help the film. I am not one of those people, I've seen so many horror films and psychological thrillers that I honestly believe if Freddy were in my head, he'd be more scared of what's up there than I would have him.
The film starts off pretty badly too. The opening line is a nice touch, even though the events that this particular film is based off of, most of the teenie boppers have probably never heard of. This film is extremely loosely inspired by the Charles Manson murders. Other inspiration came from the writer/director's own experience when he was a child. A girl knocked on his door asking if someone was home, the person she was looking for didn't live there of course. Later he found out that a group of homes had been robbed. Putting these two events together he figured out that the girl was trying to find out which homes were empty and which were not.
In the film a girl knocked on the couple's door and asks if a certain person is home. The couple, of course, have never heard of this person. Later the girl comes back and asks the same thing, but Kristen does not open the door this time. Later on the strangers start making knocking sounds all over the house. Stealing cell phones, playing with the victims' head with music and other noises. I can imagine being in this particular situation, things would be extremely frightening. The house is a summer home for the Hoyt family and there's no one else around it. No other homes or businesses.
My favorite line is in the horrible ending though. I love when Kristen asks, "Why are you doing this to us?" And one of the strangers responds with, "Because you were home." Sounds like something I would have said.
The thing that makes the ending bad for me is, you spend countless hours psychologically torturing these people, but when it comes time to actually kill them, you do it fast and then run away. That doesn't make sense to me. Maybe because I'd be in it more for the blood and guts, but still. I'd want to savor every slice through the flesh. And by slice, I mean I'd use a scalpel and make slow cuts in carefully planned areas. I wouldn't just start jabbing knives into their guts.
Not a great film, it could have been, but it wasn't. I'd still recommend seeing this in theaters to any horror, thriller fans out there.
3 out of 5 stars.
